Actress. Highly-versatile, she played a wide range of roles and was equally comfortable in films, TV and on stage. Born Elizabeth Welter Wilson, her father worked in the insurance industry, she ventured to New York City, when she caught the acting bug. She enrolled at the Neighborhood Playhouse, where she was mentored by Sanford Meisner and initiated her acting career at the Barter Theater in Virginia. She marked her Broadway debut in the hit "Picnic" (1953 to 1954) originating the role of 'Christine Schoenwalder' and two-years later (1955), she repeated the part in the motion picture adaptation. In 1955, she originated the part of 'Miss Warriner' in the stage production of "The Desk Set" (1955 to 1956). Over the next four-decades, she performed in sixteen further Broadway plays and distinguished herself, as she clinched Tony Awards for "Sticks and Bones" (1972) and "Morning's at Seven" (1980 to 1981). Her film career started a decade before she earned acclaim on stage, as she experienced an uncredited part playing a partygoer in Hitchcock's "Notorious" (1946). She played roles of substance in Rod Serling's tension-filled "Patterns" (1956) and repeated her role she originated on the stage as 'Miss MacCracken' in the film "The Tunnel of Love" (1958). In 1963, she reunited with Hitchcock to play 'Helen Carter' in "The Birds" and had credits in the pictures "The Tiger Makes Out" (1966) and "The Graduate" (1967). The later two were known as being Dustin Hoffman's first two motion picture credits. In "The Graduate", she played Hoffman's mother. Among her other film roles include "Catch-22" (1970), "The Day of the Dolphin" (1973), "Man on a Swing" (1974), "The Prisoner of Second Avenue" (1975), "The Happy Hooker" (1975), "Nine to Five" (1980) and "Quiz Show" (1994). Additionally, she did extensive work on TV and earned an Emmy Award nomination for "Nutcracker: Money, Madness and Murder" (1977). She had a featured role opposite George C. Scott in the short-lived TV series "Eastside/Westside" (1963 to 1964).